Vitamin A deficiency and caries susceptibility of rat molars

Autor: Suzanne S. Harris, Juan M. Navia
Rok vydání: 1980
Předmět:
Zdroj: Archives of Oral Biology. 25:415-421
ISSN: 0003-9969
DOI: 10.1016/0003-9969(80)90008-4
Popis: Exact timing of vitamin A deficiency to coincide with critical periods of tooth development is essential for evaluating the pre-eruptive ettect on caries or this nutritional deficiency. Rat dams were made vitamin A deficient (A − ) at parturition. Pups born and nursed by A − dams had virtually no vitamin A in their livers at weaning. Following weaning, both A − and vitamin A adequate (A + ) groups of pups were orally infected with Streptococcus mutans 6715 and fed a vitamin A adequate caries-promoting diet for 3 weeks. The A − pups had significantly higher caries scores than those in the A + group for buccal, sulcal and approximal deep dentinal areas. Salivary glands from A − pups were normal in histologic appearance at weaning as were their molars and incisors. Thus, experimental induction of vitamin A deficiency for a limited time before tooth eruption increased susceptibility of rat molars to caries but did not alter morphology of the salivary glands. Thus vitamin A deficiency alters rat tooth formation, particularly dentine, making it more susceptible to caries.
Databáze: OpenAIRE